I’m planning to spend big this Black Friday, but I won’t have to get up early, clip coupons, fight the crowds, or lug around armfuls of shopping bags. How am I going to do it?

On Friday, I’m going to sleep in, take a hike with the family, play board games and watch movies. And sometime throughout the day, I’ll get online and take the money I didn’t spend shopping on Black Friday and contribute it to charity. So instead of getting more stuff I don’t need maybe I can help feed some people, clean up the oceans, or fund research to cure disease. That sounds like a much better deal – no coupon required.

What I neglected to say in my last post, is that what I really do like about Thanksgiving is the being thankful part. So as my new Thanksgiving tradition,

This week, my daughter (my little girl) is turning 10. Yes, double digits – what the heck?! I’m freaking out about this and I’m not sure why. It’s not a case of “wow, if I have a ten year old, I must be old”. It’s just that I’m enjoying my kids so much at the age they are right now, I don’t want them to grow up. My husband and I always say to them, “Can you do me a favor and please stop growing?” Which we are kidding about, sort of…

Some unsolicited advice I would give to moms with younger kids is to enjoy every age to the fullest. When my kids (who are only 18 months apart) we young, I missed out on the enjoyment of their age just waiting for them to be older. I was so exhausted by nursing, diaper changes (two in

Let me first say that I love, love, love Halloween, so I’m not trying to spoil the fun. But lead in face paint, toxic costumes, high-fructose corn syrup and mounds of trash can make Halloween not so sweet. With a few simple changes though, we can enjoy the holiday while protecting our kids’ health and our planet.

Here are some suggestions for a Halloween that’s not so frightening:

Forgo the face paint – The Environmental Working Group tested many brands of face paint marketed to children and found low levels of lead in EVERY SINGLE ONE. They also found nickel, cobalt and chromium, which can cause lifelong skin sensitization and contact dermatitis. To read the full report, click here. The best thing to do is to avoid face paint for kids. You can also try homemade

This week, I'm participating in No-Impact Week hosted by the Huffington Post and Colin Beavan, better known as No-Impact Man.

It's a week-long carbon cleanse, designed to help you live a better, happier, and healthier life by reducing your consumption and buying less stuff.

The challenge runs Sunday October 18th through Sunday the 25th. If you would like to try, it's not too late to join. Each day has its own unique activity so you can participate each day or only some - any level of participation is better than none at all.

Sunday was the first day of the challenge. To get started, participants were asked to collect and save all their trash for the day - all of it. I collected every scrap that our family of four threw away that day. On Monday, the first thing to do was to sort Sunday's

In my two most recent posts, I discussed the problem with plastics and how to use plastics more safely. The last step now is to reduce plastic use.

As a start, here are three items that I carry with me every day. Each is small and inexpensive, but has a big impact on reducing the use of disposable plastic:

A reusable water bottle - I have a pretty good collection going (in many sizes, colors and brands) but my favorite is the classic 27 ounce stainless steel Klean Kanteen bottle. It doesn't scratch or wear, fits in the cup holder of my car, and is made from safe, non-leaching food-grade stainless steel. It also helps me save money. I never have to purchase bottled water. I bring it pretty much everywhere -even when I'm traveling. You can take your reusable water bottle on the plane

I hope you will check out my previous post, "The problem with plastics" for a better understanding of the need to reduce your plastic use in the first place. In addition to all the information I included there, in case I haven't convinced you yet, please read this Planet Green blog post, "Is plastic making us fat?"

So not only is plastic bad for your health and bad for the environment, it can also make you fat?! What the heck, I'm never using plastic again. The problem with that solution is it's totally impractical. The fact is that that plastic is everywhere, so avoiding it altogether isn't realistic for most people. There are people who do almost entirely avoid plastic and live to tell - they even share their journey with us. For a look at a life (almost) plastic free, check out fakeplasticfish.com